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pet

Once in awhile I will be on the subway and I will see a person entering the subway station with a dog walking in front of them and just as I am about to think to myself that it seems odd that the person is bringing a dog with them in a place where dogs usually are not allowed, I see that the dog is wearing a jacket that marks it as a service dog, meaning that the dog is being useful in some way to that person — we called them “Seeing Eye Dogs” when I was growing up.

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When I was growing up, I had a friend in West Windsor who had a pet cat. He told me one day that it didn’t matter what he said to the cat as long as he used a soothing tone when he said it. He proceeded to demonstrate by saying some of the most ugly things I had ever heard a twelve year old boy say all with a cooing tone. I noted at the time that the cat didn’t seem to mind all too much.

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In the last year, I have learned a lot about what it means to live with a cat. For the most part, it has been a pleasant experience, with Abby being nice company and a good addition to the mix. Sometimes, however, she can be a supreme, nuisance — fortunately, this is not too often the case.

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If you’ve ever struggled to medically save the life of a dying pet, you know the end-of-life costs can be extravagant if you choose to try prolong life instead of just ending it. A year ago, I wondered in an article — Deducting the Cat — why pets weren’t considered part of the family and eligible as tax deductions for their veterinary care. I was delighted to learn this week there is now a move afoot to allow a $3,500.00USD “pet deduction” on your income tax.

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Dealing with the death of a pet is, for some people, an event from which they never recover. Where once we just buried pets in the backyard under a foot of dirt — or dumped the carcass in the trash bin like garbage–many now honor their deceased pets with cremation, mausoleums, headstones and other burial rites that were formerly reserved in the domain of people.